QuidelOrtho Science BYTES Podcast

Bloodlines: The Connection Between Blood Donation and Patient Health

In this episode, you'll hear a conversation with transfusion medicine expert Michelle Mullens about how blood donation underpins patient health and the critical role it plays in healthcare. Discover how donated blood is vital not only for trauma care, but also for cancer treatments, chronic illnesses like sickle cell disease, and a wide range of surgeries. The discussion explores the growing challenges of blood supply shortages, the importance of specialized blood types, and how automation in blood banks is helping labs maintain safety and efficiency despite staffing pressures. Learn how each donation makes a difference and why maintaining a robust blood supply is essential for patient care and safety.

 

About our speaker: 
Michelle Mullens

Global Portfolio Marketing Manager for Transfusion Medicine, QuidelOrtho

Before beginning her career on the vendor side with QuidelOrtho, Michelle was a senior medical technologist at Baptist Health, serving in leadership roles in transfusion medicine and immunohematology for nearly 30 years. With QuidelOrtho, Michelle has served as a technical specialist, business development consultant and clinical science liaison before taking on her current role.

Diagnostic Pathways to Women’s Health and Wellness

In this episode, you'll hear a conversation with three women's health experts about how early diagnostic testing is transforming care for heart disease, STIs, and preeclampsia. Discover how proactive screening empowers women, supports personalized care, and helps shift healthcare from reaction to prevention.

 

About Our Speakers: 

Dr. Lindy Crimmins, Global Medical Affairs Manager. Lindy's clinical experience spans from emergency medicine to critical and primary care. Currently, she is responsible for providing medical support for the QuidelOrtho acute care menu throughout the product lifecycle. Lindy is passionate about education, testing guideline updates and assay utilization to drive improved patient-centered outcomes.

Dr. Rea Castro, Director of Medical Affairs. Rea is a seasoned medical professional with extensive experience in pharmaceutical clinical development, biotechnology and diagnostic product development across multiple therapeutic areas, including immunology, oncology and women's health. She is currently a cross-functional leader in medical affairs and is committed to advancing healthcare outcomes through innovative research, quality healthcare delivery and rigorous safety standards.

Vonda McAllister, Director of Global Product Management. Vonda's diagnostic experience spans from R&D and program management to marketing. Now a member of the Point of Care business unit, she previously managed the Triage™ portfolio of assays and the clinical labs team for North America. Vonda is currently focused on supporting the global regions with our PlGF tests, that is, placental growth factor, and toxicology assays, as well as expanding the Triage toxicology and women's health testing portfolio. She also serves as global leadership co-chair for the QuidelOrtho Women's Leadership Network.

Beyond burnout: Key factors and strategies to solve the laboratory staffing crisis

In this episode, we spotlight the essential yet often-overlooked role of medical laboratory technologists – the backbone of today’s healthcare. With 70% of clinical decisions relying on lab results, these professionals face challenges including staffing shortages, rising diagnostic demands, burnout and low compensation. We explore what's driving the crisis and, more importantly, what can be done to solve it. 

About Our Speaker: 

Katy Marcum

Global Head of Clinical Labs Business Unit

QuidelOrtho

Katy is responsible for leading innovation and commercial success of the business unit worldwide, including strategic direction and solutions development for laboratory diagnostics. In her more than 13 years in the clinical laboratory and invitro diagnostics industry, Katy has served in corporate leadership roles and in the lab with top-tier hospitals, including specimen processing and registration, core lab generalists, and microbiology and serology.

Under attack: Sepsis and patient safety in the age of antibiotic resistance

This episode discusses the growing threat of sepsis, a life-threatening condition caused by the body's overwhelming response to an infection. It explores the connection between the rise in sepsis cases and the increasing problem of antibiotic resistance, highlighting the importance of effective diagnostic tools and antibiotic stewardship programs in combating this public health challenge.

 

About Our Speaker:

Dr. Mike Broyles

With more than 30 years of experience as a hospital pharmacy and laboratory director, Dr. Broyles is a leading expert on sepsis and the clinical use of drugs with a focus on antimicrobial stewardship. Prior to joining Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dr. Broyles was a consultant for over 25 years working with a large independent hospital network as pharmacy advisor chairman focused on developing and implementing hospital-wide clinical initiatives. Dr. Broyles has worked passionately throughout his career to define effective protocols and decision support processes in patient management and the use of diagnostic technology to help clinicians improve outcomes through better clinical care.

Take heart: How Point-of-Care Cardiac Diagnostics Save Time and Lives

In this episode, we’ll discuss the importance of cardiac testing at the point of care with two renowned experts on the topic, doctors Martin Than and Paul Collinson. Both of our guests today have extensive experience on the front lines of patient care and have witnessed firsthand how point-of-care testing can save time and save lives.

 

About our speakers: 

Doctor Martin Than currently holds several positions in the field, including consultant specialists and director of research for the emergency department at Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand. He has authored 187 peer-reviewed journal articles on emergency medicine, cardiac care and diagnostics. Doctor Than is recognized worldwide for his research on the rapid diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome. 

Doctor Paul Collinson is presently a professor of cardiovascular biomarkers and consultant cardiologist at City Saint George's Medical School in London. Doctor Collinson has held clinical staff and university faculty positions in orthopedics, general family medicine, cardiology and pathology. He has published over 300 papers and review articles, 281 abstracts and 15 book chapters. Doctor Collinson has also been recognized numerous times for his research by the American Association of Clinical Chemists, including the Outstanding Research Award in point-of-care testing, as well as the high test award, now the IFCC Award for Lifetime Achievement and Cardiovascular biomarkers. 

Value of Metrics in the Laboratory Environment

In this episode, we’ll explore how quality performance metrics are transforming clinical laboratory operations and why measuring the details – from accuracy to turnaround times – are essential for improving everything from test results to patient care. 

 

About Our Speaker: 

Johanna Miller, Global Product Manager for QuidelOrtho. Johanna brings a wealth of expertise working with laboratory metrics. She also has a strong background in data science, and she recently published a peer-reviewed article on a novel approach to leveraging big data to calculate Sigma metrics using input from real-world clinical laboratories. Johanna has also worked closely with lab teams to build the discipline to provide metrics they can use to improve their performance. She's passionate about helping lab staff achieve excellence through data and innovation, and today she'll share her insights on how metrics can help teams navigate challenges, prioritize improvements and ultimately deliver the best possible patient outcomes.

Preventing Rh Disease, the evolution from discovery to ongoing challenges

Rh disease remains a significant health challenge, particularly impacting expectant mothers and their newborns. In this episode of Science Bytes, Dr. Steven Spitalnik discusses the milestones in Rh disease treatment, the ongoing challenges and future opportunities to combat this condition.

 

About our Speaker

Dr Spitalnik, MD is a Professor in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, and a member of the Medical Staff at New York Presbyterian/Columbia.  He has authored over 250 publications and served as an investigator on ~30 grants and contracts including Principal investigator on ~20 of those grants. Additionally, he has sponsored more than 15 Training Grants.  Dr. Spitalnik is a member of multiple professional societies, including the Association for the Advancement of Blood and Biotherapies (AABB) and the International Society for Blood Transfusion (ISBT). He has served on multiple committees within these organizations and was on the Board of Directors for the AABB. He has received multiple society awards and was elected to the Hall of Fame of the AABB Foundation (previously the National Blood Foundation). Dr. Spitalnik is the Founding Member and Executive Director of the Worldwide Initiative for Rh Disease Eradication (WIRhE).  

Spotlight on syphilis: Breaking the chain with early detection

The syphilis epidemic in the U.S. is a growing public health crisis, with rates increasing by 76% from 2018 to 2022. Syphilis is preventable and curable, but early detection is key—especially for pregnant women, where timely testing can prevent congenital syphilis.

Don’t miss this episode on the solutions to this growing epidemic. 

 

About Our Speaker:

Dr. Lily Li is the Senior Director of Medical, Scientific & Clinical Affairs at QuidelOrtho. With a medical degree from Peking University and a PhD in Immunology from the University of Alberta, Dr. Li has guided the development of multiple infectious disease diagnostic tests at QuidelOrtho.

 

She's not 'just tired': Exposing the hidden thyroid epidemic in women

Did you know that women are 10 times more likely than men to develop a thyroid condition, yet often remain undiagnosed due to medical bias and lack of awareness? We often see women present themselves to an emergency department with health concerns that are brushed off as “stress” or “weight-related” versus conducting diagnostic testing to identify the root cause.

How can we address that?

Don’t miss this episode on how healthcare providers can address these types of biases including timeliness of diagnosis, screening practices, and interpretation of lab results to enhance the quality of care for women with thyroid conditions.

 

About our speaker

Jeff Houtz, Senior Global Product Manager

Jeff Houtz is the Senior Global Product Manager for QuidelOrtho covering thyroid and reproductive endocrine products. Jeff has 35 years of experience in research and development, product development, and medical education in a variety of disease states including reproductive and thyroid disorders. Providing accurate and meaningful diagnoses in furtherance of improved healthcare has always been a driver and motivator. Jeff has been instrumental in creating numerous CME and P.A.C.E.-accredited content for physicians, nurses, and laboratorians in the U.S. and Europe.

In addition to assay development Jeff is passionate about patient advocacy which is why he has worked closely with the Graves’ Disease and Thyroid Foundation and Thyroid Federation International. Jeff has also collaborated with LifeTime TV in support of programs on The Balancing Act and Access Health surrounding thyroid disease.

Jeff is also a family man married for 30 years with 2 wonderful kids.

Identifying Lesion-Causing Viral Pathogens

The World Health Organization estimates 3.7 billion people under age 50 (67%) globally have herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, the main cause of oral herpes, and 491 million people aged 15–49 (13%) worldwide have a herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infection, the main cause of genital herpes.  Although treatable, most HSV infections are often asymptomatic or unrecognized.  Moreover, management of HSV infections is complicated by overlapping clinical presentation of unrelated herpesvirus infections, such as varicella-zoster virus (VZV), requiring differential diagnosis.  Innovations in molecular diagnostics continue to play a critical role in the diagnosis and management of these diseases.

 

About Our Speaker: 

 

Lori Henderson earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bucknell University. She began her career in the laboratory working on drug discovery and then transitioned into commercial roles within the biopharma and diagnostics sectors of the life science industry. Lori has direct experience in multiple disease and therapeutic areas and currently focuses on sexually transmitted diseases and women’s health. Within the molecular business unit at QuidelOrtho, Lori is responsible for identifying and helping drive the development of products to meet clinical and patient needs.